Politics

Meyer: Horse head gag jumped the shark during Obama visit

President Barack Obama shakes hands with a man wearing a horse head mask in Denver last Tuesday. (Jewel Samad, AFP/Getty Images)

It was funny when the guy in the horse head mask appeared in Google Street View in Scotland in 2010.

It was even more hilarious when a shirtless man took the air out of TV news coverage during Hurricane Sandy by wearing a horse mask and jogging on a Washington, D.C., street in the background behind a reporter who was broadcasting the news.

But the horse head phenomenon jumped the shark last week when President Obama encountered a man wearing the plastic head gear on a Denver street.

Not funny. Creepy, in fact. And disrespectful.

I realize I sound like a curmudgeon here. But shouldn't you take off the horse head when you are meeting the leader of the free world? This just makes Colorado look ridiculous.

Maybe it was social commentary on the public's attitude about Obama these days.

More likely, it was a person wanting to create a viral moment — inserting a bit of surrealism into everyday life. But the president of the United States of America shouldn't be the straight man in a bizarre street theater gag. When did this become acceptable?

I can't imagine anyone doing this to John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan. Or even Jimmy Carter. Obama, seemingly taken aback when confronted with the man in the mask, shook hands and moved on. Sure enough, the photos went viral.

The mask-wearer apparently wasn't protesting anything, wasn't making a statement. He was just doing something weird. And for that we are supposed to be amused?

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Not sure why I find this so bothersome. I love the other horse-head photo bombs.

Google Street View is ripe for lampooning. The Internet behemoth has disturbingly photographed everything around us, and uses those images for its cybermapping system. When the mask-wearer appeared on a Scottish roadside, it felt as if real people were taking back ownership of their streets. It resonates because we are not on this Earth to be props for Google. We can be weird on our street if we want to. Maybe not if the president is there, though.

The jogger bit also worked, bringing levity to the foreboding storm coverage.

But the guy in Denver with the horse head is disturbing.

No one wants to see the president put in peril. He risks that every time he ventures into the public, which he has been doing lately — stepping out of his bubble and getting photographed among regular folks.

Clearly, going rogue is a political tactic intended to change Obama's image of being an aloof and out-of-touch president.

Surely if Obama continues to venture into the streets, he will encounter more weirdness.

My fear is this strange encounter will appeal to a nut job who sees this as a crack in security — that things off-kilter are now acceptable around the president.

The media also laughed when someone shouted to Obama, asking if he wanted a hit of marijuana as he walked into a LoDo bar.

Again, not funny.

Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana, has become a butt of stoner jokes around the country.

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